Sleep patterns and its relation to lifestyle habits: a study of secondary high school students in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Amna Salam Al-Wandi; Sarra Ibrahim Shorbagi; Amna Salam Al-Wandi; Sarra Ibrahim Shorbagi

doi:10.3934/publichealth.2020055

AIMS Public Health

2020, Volume 7, Issue 3: 713-722. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2020055

Previous Article Next Article

Research article

Sleep patterns and its relation to lifestyle habits: a study of secondary high school students in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Amna Salam Al-Wandi ^{1
,
,},
Sarra Ibrahim Shorbagi ²

1.
College of Medicine, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
2.
College of Medicine, Family Medicine Department, University of Sharjah, Sharjah, United Arab Emirates

Received: 29 June 2020 Accepted: 10 September 2020 Published: 17 September 2020

Objectives Sleep is a fundamental element in the growth and development of adolescents. Sleep undergoes significant changes during adolescence due to physiological and environmental factors. It has been scientifically shown that the required sleep duration in adolescence is more than 8 hours per day. The aim of this study is to understand sleep patterns and sleep-wake cycle of Sharjah adolescents, and identify lifestyle habits affecting those sleep patterns, and to assess the prevalence of sleep problems.
Methods The study was a cross-sectional survey of 519 high-school students, ages 14–21 years, in Sharjah city, United Arab Emirates. It was conducted using a self-filled questionnaire that included questions about demographic data, sleep and lifestyle habits and sleep problems of adolescents.
Results The mean age of our sample was 16.24. Most students (64.5%) were reported to sleep between 5 and 8 hours on school nights. The average time to go to bed on weekdays was 11:25 PM. The average time to wake up on weekdays was 6:12 AM. Frequent arousals with difficulty getting back to sleep was the most encountered sleep problem among our sample.
Conclusion A large proportion of adolescents in our study had insufficient sleep duration and suffer from some sleep disturbances. Smoking was found to be associated with sleep as non-smokers obtained longer sleep durations. There was no association between physical activity or usage of electrical devices and sleep. Therefore, it is necessary to intervene by organizing awareness programs to improve sleep patterns among adolescent students.
- adolescents,
- sleep,
- sleep-wake patterns,
- United Arab Emirates
Citation: Amna Salam Al-Wandi, Sarra Ibrahim Shorbagi. Sleep patterns and its relation to lifestyle habits: a study of secondary high school students in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates[J]. AIMS Public Health, 2020, 7(3): 713-722. doi: 10.3934/publichealth.2020055

Related Papers:

Abstract

Objectives Sleep is a fundamental element in the growth and development of adolescents. Sleep undergoes significant changes during adolescence due to physiological and environmental factors. It has been scientifically shown that the required sleep duration in adolescence is more than 8 hours per day. The aim of this study is to understand sleep patterns and sleep-wake cycle of Sharjah adolescents, and identify lifestyle habits affecting those sleep patterns, and to assess the prevalence of sleep problems.

Methods The study was a cross-sectional survey of 519 high-school students, ages 14–21 years, in Sharjah city, United Arab Emirates. It was conducted using a self-filled questionnaire that included questions about demographic data, sleep and lifestyle habits and sleep problems of adolescents.

Results The mean age of our sample was 16.24. Most students (64.5%) were reported to sleep between 5 and 8 hours on school nights. The average time to go to bed on weekdays was 11:25 PM. The average time to wake up on weekdays was 6:12 AM. Frequent arousals with difficulty getting back to sleep was the most encountered sleep problem among our sample.

Conclusion A large proportion of adolescents in our study had insufficient sleep duration and suffer from some sleep disturbances. Smoking was found to be associated with sleep as non-smokers obtained longer sleep durations. There was no association between physical activity or usage of electrical devices and sleep. Therefore, it is necessary to intervene by organizing awareness programs to improve sleep patterns among adolescent students.

Acknowledgments

The authors are thankful to Raed Dali, Yusur Al-Karaghouli and Alya A-Ali for their help in the study.

Limitations

This study has some limitations. Firstly, it was a cross sectional study thus the temporal relationship concerning the predictors and outcomes is not clear. Second, our sample included only governmental school going adolescents, hence these findings can't be generalized. With that being said, governmental schools are considered representative of a large part of secondary school students because of their high number in Sharjah. And since this is considered to the best of our knowledge the first study to assess sleep patterns among adolescents, we only chose to include governmental schools students and we believe this will pave the way to more research regarding this topic especially after considering our study findings. Third, the questionnaire used was not a validated one and did not include all factors affecting sleep like the duration of electrical devices usage before sleep. Nevertheless, despite those limitations, the findings of this study offer a baseline data for upcoming research.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

References

[1]	Krueger J, Frank M, Wisor J, et al. (2016) Sleep function: Toward elucidating an enigma. Sleep Med Rev 28: 46-54. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2015.08.005
[2]	Bartel A, Gradisar M, Williamson P (2015) Protective and risk factors for adolescent sleep: A meta-analytic review. Sleep Med Rev 21: 72-85. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2014.08.002
[3]	Carskadon MA (1993) Association between Puberty and Delayed Phase Preference. Sleep 6: 258-262. doi: 10.1093/sleep/16.3.258
[4]	Hale L, Guan S (2015) Screen time and sleep among school-aged children and adolescents: A systematic literature review. Sleep Med Rev 21: 50-58. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2014.07.007
[5]	Dolezal BA, Neufeld EV, Boland DM, et al. (2017) Interrelationship between Sleep and Exercise: A Systematic Review. Adv Prev Med 2017: 1364387.
[6]	McNamara JP, Wang J, Holiday DB, et al. (2014) Sleep disturbances associated with cigarette smoking. Psychol Health Med 19: 410-419. doi: 10.1080/13548506.2013.832782
[7]	Gradisar M, Gardner G, Dohnt H (2011) Recent worldwide sleep patterns and problems during adolescence: A review and meta-analysis of age, region, and sleep. Sleep Med 12: 110-118. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2010.11.008
[8]	Merdad R, Merdad L, Nassif R, et al. (2014) Sleep habits in adolescents of Saudi Arabia; distinct patterns and extreme sleep schedules. Sleep Mede 15: 1370-1378. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2014.06.008
[9]	Daniel WW, Cross CL (2018) Biostatistics: A Foundation for Analysis in the Health Sciences Wiley.
[10]	John B (2015) Sleep-patterns, sleep hygiene behaviours and parental monitoring among Bahrain-based Indian adolescents. J Fam Med Primary Care 4: 232-237. doi: 10.4103/2249-4863.154659
[11]	World Health Organization (2010) Global recommendations on physical activity for health. Available from: https://apps.who.int/iris/handle/10665/44399.
[12]	Perry GS, Patil SP, Presley-Cantrell LR (2013) Raising Awareness of Sleep as a Healthy Behavior. Prev Chronic Dis 10: 130081. doi: 10.5888/pcd10.130081
[13]	Eaton D, McKnight-Eily L, Lowry R, et al. (2010) Prevalence of Insufficient, Borderline, and Optimal Hours of Sleep Among High School Students - United States. J Adolesc Health 46: 399-401. doi: 10.1016/j.jadohealth.2009.10.011
[14]	Al-Hazzaa H, Musaiger A, Abahussain N, et al. (2014) Lifestyle correlates of self-reported sleep duration among Saudi adolescents: a multicentre school-based cross-sectional study. Child: Care, Health Dev 40: 533-542. doi: 10.1111/cch.12051
[15]	Chahine R, Farah F, Chahoud M, et al. (2018) Assessing sleep quality of Lebanese high school students in relation to lifestyle: pilot study in Beirut. East Mediterr Health J 24: 722-728. doi: 10.26719/2018.24.8.722
[16]	Yang C, Kim J, Rajnikant S, et al. (2005) Age-Related Changes in Sleep/Wake Patterns among Korean Teenagers. Pediatrics 115: 250-256. doi: 10.1542/peds.2004-0815G
[17]	Van Dongen HP, Rogers NL, Dinges DF (2003) Sleep debt: theoretical and empirical issues. Sleep Biol Rhythms 1: 5-13. doi: 10.1046/j.1446-9235.2003.00006.x
[18]	Countryman A, Saab P, Llabre M, et al. (2012) Cardiometabolic Risk in Adolescents: Associations with Physical Activity, Fitness, and Sleep. Ann Behav Med 45: 121-131. doi: 10.1007/s12160-012-9428-8
[19]	Cappuccio F, Cooper D, D'Elia L, et al. (2011) Sleep duration predicts cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective studies. Eur Heart J 32: 1484-1492. doi: 10.1093/eurheartj/ehr007
[20]	Dewald JF, Meijer AM, Oort FJ, et al. (2010) The inﬂuence of sleep quality, sleep duration and sleepiness on school performance in children and adolescents: a meta-analytic review. Sleep Med Rev 14: 179-89. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2009.10.004
[21]	Short MA, Gradisar M, Lack LC, et al. (2013) A cross-cultural comparison of sleep duration between US and Australian adolescents: the effect of school start time, parent-set bedtimes, and extracurricular load. Health Edu Behav 40: 323-330. doi: 10.1177/1090198112451266
[22]	Bartel KA, Gradisar M, Williamson P (2015) Protective and risk factors for adolescent sleep: A meta-analytic review. Sleep Med Rev 21: 72-85. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2014.08.002
[23]	Owens J, Stahl J, Patton A, et al. (2006) Sleep practices, attitudes, and beliefs in inner city middle school children: A mixed-methods study. Behav Sleep Med 4: 1540-2010. doi: 10.1207/s15402010bsm0402_4
[24]	Hitze B, Bosy-Westphal A, Bielfeldt F, et al. (2008) Determinants and impact of sleep duration in children and adolescents: data of the Kiel Obesity Prevention Study. Eur J Clin Nutr 63: 739. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2008.41
[25]	Maduabuchi JC, Obu HA, Chukwu BF, et al. (2014) Sleep pattern and practice among adolescents school children in Nigerian secondary schools. Pan Afr Med J 19: 313-313. doi: 10.11604/pamj.2014.19.313.4603
[26]	Roenneberg T, Kuehnle T, Juda M, et al. (2007) Epidemiology of the human circadian clock. Sleep Med Rev 11: 429-438. doi: 10.1016/j.smrv.2007.07.005
[27]	Hysing M, Pallesen S, Stormark K, et al. (2003) Sleep patterns and insomnia among adolescents: a population-based study. J Sleep Res 22: 549-556. doi: 10.1111/jsr.12055
[28]	Adolescent Sleep Working Group (2014) School start times for adolescents. Pediatrics 134: 642-649.
[29]	McKnight-Eily L, Eaton D, Lowry R, et al. (2011) Relationships between hours of sleep and health-risk behaviors in US adolescent students. Prev Med 53: 271-273. doi: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2011.06.020
[30]	Kabrita C, Hajjar-Muça T (2016) Sex-specific sleep patterns among university students in Lebanon: impact on depression and academic performance. Nat Sci Sleep 8: 189-196. doi: 10.2147/NSS.S104383
[31]	Lazaratou H, Dikeos D, Anagnostopoulos D, et al. (2005) Sleep problems in adolescence a study of senior high school students in Greece. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 14: 237-243. doi: 10.1007/s00787-005-0460-0
[32]	Cain N, Gradisar M (2010) Electronic media use and sleep in school-aged children and adolescents: A review. Sleep Med 11: 735-742. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2010.02.006
[33]	Gooley J, Chamberlain K, Smith K, et al. (2011) Exposure to Room Light before Bedtime Suppresses Melatonin Onset and Shortens Melatonin Duration in Humans. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 96: E463-E472. doi: 10.1210/jc.2010-2098

Reader Comments

Your name:*

Email:*
© 2020 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)